Reel News: Knight-Time Is Almost Upon Us….

It is now a calendar month until Batman arrives on our shores again, the long wait is coming to an end. On the 25^th July we will once again get to see the most enigmatic of all superheroes in action, The Dark Knight is the second film in Warner Bros redux of one its most profitable franchises.

The Main Character Poster

Every summer season there is one movie that I hold the highest of expectations for, this year The Dark Knight holds that mantle.  This of course is a bad omen, previous years the films that I have placed my highest cinematic faith in have fallen short of my anticipations.  In 2007 Transformers whet my appetite with its fantastic trailers, my boyhood hours spent playing with Optimus Prime brought to life by ILM’s photo real triumph. The reality was a film that failed to achieve in fully realising the action scenes required, instead we had glimpses of kinetic genius, woven together with bad comedy sketches as filler material.  In 2006 it was Superman Returns, a film that let me down in ways no other has, the studios need to take heed, good directors don’t necessarily make good summer blockbuster directors.

So to 2008, there are a number of reasons that TDK being my most anticipated film is an oddity, firstly I did not love Batman Begins (we will come to that in a moment), also there are/were some big hitters out this summer, Indy should have been up there but the trailers failed to excite.  As I was saying I thought Batman Begins lacked certain elements that I love about the earlier incarnations of Batman, firstly the absence of the gothic/OTT production design that played a major role in the Burton years left out an important character; Gotham was just a Generic city?  The other big issue was with the small number of action scenes, at the end of the day this was supposed to be a Batman film, and strayed so far from my expectations I was left wanting.  I did enjoy the some of the new elements, and on subsequent viewings began to accept this new direction was probably for the best.  I also thought the cast were outstanding, an ensemble for which any production would kill for.

TDK has reached this level in my belief for one main reason, the introduction of “The Joker” into Christopher Nolan’s Gotham City.  Everything from the make up to costume seems pitch perfect, not least to the acting ability of the Heath Ledger.  The late actor looks to have delivered a performance that will not only eclipse Jack Nicholson’s interpretation of the jovial villain, but also be a stand out of the year.

The Joker In all His Glory

The viral marketing campaign on this movie has also been unique, at least in it’s abundance, and even though we have been shown a great deal of footage, key elements seem to have been saved for the full viewing (we have not officially seen a full picture of “Two-Face” yet).  What we have been allowed to see has looked amazing, the darker nature of Nolan’s world seems to have an added, shall we say, scary component that seems to have shown a full abandonment of the younger audience (which is a good thing?)

A Typical Image From The Viral Marketing Campaign

I’m sure that I will have a few more posts on the subject before the films release date; I am trying to curb my expectations, but with daily marketing gems that Warner’s PR crew seem to be throwing at us it will be tough.

Here is the trailer, for those who have not seen it – let’s be honest if you haven’t already you would not be reading this post.